Midwest Regional Notebook

TWA Dome will set NCAA regional mark

ST. LOUIS -- The roughly 43,000 fans in the TWA Dome Friday will be the largest crowd ever to see an NCAA regional game -- and the biggest chunk will be cheering Kentucky.

The dome, which seats 66,000 for football, was orginally going to accommodate 35,000 for what will be the third basketball event in its four-year history. But seating was expanded at the request of the NCAA. The old regional record was 40,589 at Tropicana Field last year for the South Regional, which Kentucky won en route to the national title.

The defending champion Wildcats were expected to have about 12,000 fans in the dome for their game Friday night against Miami of Ohio. The Wildcats will be playing their first game in St. Louis since they beat Duke 94-88 in the championship game in 1978 in the now-destroyed Arena, which back then was called the Checkerdome.

Blazing new trails

Oklahoma, the last at-large team selected, will be out to make history when it takes on top-seeded Michigan State. Since the NCAA tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, no 13th seed has beaten a No. 1. The Sooners are only the third 13th seed to reach the regional semifinals. Yet, despite their low seed, they haven't even reaped the benefit of being cast as the regional's Cinderella underdog. That role has been assumed by 10th-seeded Miami.

''I guarantee you we aren't caught up in that at all,'' said Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma's athletic director. ''There isn't anybody saying, 'Hey, we're a No. 13 seed and look what we're doing.' When we watched the selection show and it was announced we were a 13 seed and would play Arizona, everybody said, 'We're going to make 13 a lucky number.'''

''Being a 13 seed is probably the best thing that happened to us,'' Oklahoma guard Eric Martin said. ''No pressure.''

Grieving for John

Kentucky coach Tubby Smith decided he would not be able to attend funeral services in Indiana on Friday for John Stewart and get back in time for the Wildcats' game against Miami of Ohio. Kentucky's No. 1 high school recruit, whom Smith referred to as ''a beautiful young man,'' died of heart complications during a game last Friday in Columbus, Ind. Smith planned to fly to Indiana on Thursday for the wake and come right back to St. Louis.